May you always be willing to try things.
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Finn was not one for talking on the phone a lot, but tonight was different. He had a good joke he wanted to share. Before you knew it, he had Gramps on the phone. “What’s orange and sounds like a parrot?” he asked. Gramps was stumped and responded that he did not know. This made Finn even happier, he had a new joke for an old joke teller. “A Carrot! “ Finn practically shouted, and he howled with laughter. Passing along good jokes, or at least jokes that are so bad they’re kind of good, was something the world in general, and Finn in particular, didn’t get to do nearly often enough with the whole world still nearly shut down for COVID. Little did Finn know how serious that joke might become.
“Hey dad, what’s big Pharma, anyway?” Finn asked, after watching a bit on the news that talked about racing to find a cure for the dreaded virus that had had ground the world to nearly a full-on halt in the past few months. Finn’s dad responded that Pharma is short for Pharmaceuticals, the industry that stocks the Pharmacies by making medicines to cure diseases and make sick people feel better. Big indicates several things, mostly that because of the many different illnesses people experience, and the need to get people over them, pharmaceuticals has without a doubt become a huge business. No wonder the present world situation had heated up this huge industry – who ever came up with any sort of cure that could be distributed to a lot of people would not only make the world a much healthier place, they would get rich beyond their wildest dreams. But COVID-19 was not going down without a fight. Truly the best minds in the entire world were devoting nearly all their collective efforts to
finding a cure, and it was proving elusive. Just down the street from Finn, on his walk to the bus stop, lived a kindly old man, Big Fred. Big Fred had retired from the restaurant business some time ago, and he loved to talk with the boys and girls as they walked by getting on or coming from the school bus. His new passion was his garden, and he grew vegetables. With not too many mouths left to feed in his house, he often had a lot of leftovers. He shared these fresh-from-the-garden vegetables with kids who passed by and loved talking with them. He especially loved Finn because he enjoyed Finn’s stories about what he learned in school. “What are you learning about today, youngster?” he asked Finn as they each munched on fresh carrots. Finn told him he was reading a book about passenger pigeons. He learned that plain old pigeons were used to carry messages during war times. They would always return to their roost, and there were so many of them the other side never knew how to stop them. It was strange to Finn that even though a bird had less sense than most other animals, the pigeon could always find its way to its destination, even flying across wide expanses of seas or vast stretches of land. Stuff like that always struck home with Finn. But right
now, he was pondering another mystery. ”How come your tomatoes and radishes and pumpkins have big fences around them, but there is no extra protection for the carrots?” he asked Big Fred. Fred set down his tools for a second and thought awhile. Then he replied, “Well Finn you can blame that one on old Bugs Bunny, I suppose.” Finn thought that sounded strange, but he continued to listen. “Normal pests don’t eat roots out of a garden” Fred continued. “But some time ago they started putting out in cartoons that animals liked to munch on carrots and kids started feeding rabbits and squirrels carrots, and leaving carrots in bird feeders, and lots of ‘em just up and starved to death because of it. The only part of the carrot a small animal will eat is the part that’s above ground, and that leaves the good part for us large mammals, like cows, horses, and humans. But like you, most people under 70 years old have been programmed to believe that birds and squirrels and especially rabbits just want to gnaw on carrots all day. Big piece of fiction. I wish I could program ‘em otherwise. Say you like to program, Finn. Why don’t you work on cracking that code? But wait till I finish my carrot.” Finn had one more question. He wondered how come
all the neighbors were shut in their homes, quarantining because they tested positive for COVID, while all the neighborhood kids and Big Fred kept testing negative. “Reckon I don’t know” Fred fired back “but don’t be surprised if it has something to do with these vegetables we’ve been sharing. They are good for you, even better than your parents tell you.” Finn filed that in his memory bank, then continued his walk home.
Part of Finn’s assignments at school included watching YouTube videos and telling the other students what he learned. In fact, his favorite part of class was when each student would share what they had learned during Zoom calls – since school was only in session half time and they did the rest through remote learning. Today his attention was drawn to Earl’s presentation. Earl loved his grandparents, and they lived on a farm, so Earl always watched the Farm Channel on YouTube, and today he had some big news. “Scientists are intrigued by recent findings that patients who eat a special strain of the North American carrot are protected from COVID-19.” Earl reported. “But there are a couple of interesting side points. One is the carrots have to be wrapped in colored feathers to be transported, and they can’t be bulk shipped or cooked.” Finn could see many of the other kids laughing, thinking how silly the simple farmers were, but Finn filed that factoid away, unable to forget how Big Fred along with all the kids on the block were well while all the adults in the neighborhood were ailing.
That night at dinner, Finn’s dad wasn’t interested in carrot talk. He wanted to talk about what they were discovering at work. “You know how lots of folks call dumb people bird brain? He asked. “Well as it turns out maybe birds aren’t so silly after all. We have actually isolated the process involved
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May you always be willing to try things.

Finn was not one for talking on the phone a lot, but tonight was different. He had a good joke he wanted to share. Before you knew it, he had Gramps on the phone. “What’s orange and sounds like a parrot?” he asked. Gramps was stumped and responded that he did not know. This made Finn even happier, he had a new joke for an old joke teller. “A Carrot! “ Finn practically shouted, and he howled with laughter. Passing along good jokes, or at least jokes that are so bad they’re kind of good, was something the world in general, and Finn in particular, didn’t get to do nearly often enough with the whole world still nearly shut down for COVID. Little did Finn know how serious that joke might become.
“Hey dad, what’s big Pharma, anyway?” Finn asked, after watching a bit on the news that talked about racing to find a cure for the dreaded virus that had had ground the world to nearly a full-on halt in the past few months. Finn’s dad responded that Pharma is short for Pharmaceuticals, the industry that stocks the Pharmacies by making medicines to cure diseases and make sick people feel better. Big indicates several things, mostly that because of the many different illnesses people experience, and the need to get people over them, pharmaceuticals has without a doubt become a huge business. No wonder the present world situation had heated up this huge industry – who ever came up with any sort of cure that could be distributed to a lot of people would not only make the world a much healthier place, they would get rich beyond their wildest dreams. But COVID-19 was not going down without a fight. Truly the best minds in the entire world were devoting nearly all their collective efforts to
finding a cure, and it was proving elusive. Just down the street from Finn, on his walk to the bus stop, lived a kindly old man, Big Fred. Big Fred had retired from the restaurant business some time ago, and he loved to talk with the boys and girls as they walked by getting on or coming from the school bus. His new passion was his garden, and he grew vegetables. With not too many mouths left to feed in his house, he often had a lot of leftovers. He shared these fresh-from-the-garden vegetables with kids who passed by and loved talking with them. He especially loved Finn because he enjoyed Finn’s stories about what he learned in school. “What are you learning about today, youngster?” he asked Finn as they each munched on fresh carrots. Finn told him he was reading a book about passenger pigeons. He learned that plain old pigeons were used to carry messages during war times. They would always return to their roost, and there were so many of them the other side never knew how to stop them. It was strange to Finn that even though a bird had less sense than most other animals, the pigeon could always find its way to its destination, even flying across wide expanses of seas or vast stretches of land. Stuff like that always struck home with Finn. But right
now, he was pondering another mystery. ”How come your tomatoes and radishes and pumpkins have big fences around them, but there is no extra protection for the carrots?” he asked Big Fred. Fred set down his tools for a second and thought awhile. Then he replied, “Well Finn you can blame that one on old Bugs Bunny, I suppose.” Finn thought that sounded strange, but he continued to listen. “Normal pests don’t eat roots out of a garden” Fred continued. “But some time ago they started putting out in cartoons that animals liked to munch on carrots and kids started feeding rabbits and squirrels carrots, and leaving carrots in bird feeders, and lots of ‘em just up and starved to death because of it. The only part of the carrot a small animal will eat is the part that’s above ground, and that leaves the good part for us large mammals, like cows, horses, and humans. But like you, most people under 70 years old have been programmed to believe that birds and squirrels and especially rabbits just want to gnaw on carrots all day. Big piece of fiction. I wish I could program ‘em otherwise. Say you like to program, Finn. Why don’t you work on cracking that code? But wait till I finish my carrot.” Finn had one more question. He wondered how come
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